How To Become A Debt Collector: What It Is and Career Path

What is a debt collector and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

When you think about a glamorous or rewarding job, being a debt collector is probably not the first thing that would come to mind. Despite its bad rap, though, debt collection has its perks, starting right away with the fact that entering the business has low barriers. Having some insight into accounting or finance will be helpful, but other than that, you can start working without any specific credentials, experience, or education.

All you need is a knack for persuasion and negotiation, some detective skills, and a good amount of perseverance, and you are ready to embark on a lucrative career. What you need to do is track down clients who owe companies and get them to clear their debt. You might be hired by a company permanently, or work for an independent agency, but the job will be the same: negotiate payment plans with debtors or initiate legal cases where words do not work anymore.

Being a debt collector is not easy. Many people have excellent reasons why they cannot pay, and a debt collector has to be sensitive enough to comprehend a situation and yet keep committed to the purpose of the client they work for. Your communication skills need to be on point for this position, and you can reset the myths about debt collectors using intimidation and threats to receive due assets.

ScoreDebt CollectorUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,865

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.9

Growth Rate -8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.48%

Asian 3.45%

Black or African American 12.22%

Hispanic or Latino 20.02%

Unknown 3.96%

White 59.88%

Gender

female 69.26%

male 30.74%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

4.9

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.6

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Debt Collector in Columbus, OH

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Key steps to become a debt collector

Explore debt collector education requirements

Most common debt collector degrees

High School Diploma

34.2 %

Bachelor's

26.4 %

Associate

22.4 %

Start to develop specific debt collector skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	9.47%
Outbound Calls	8.80%
Payment Arrangements	7.97%
Delinquent Accounts	7.63%
Credit Card Payments	6.10%

Complete relevant debt collector training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New debt collectors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a debt collector based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real debt collector resumes.

Research debt collector duties and responsibilities

Prevent impeding loss and increasing profitability through negotiation and enforcement of schedule collection campaigns, consistently achieving high success standards.
Work with FHA, obama programs at the time.
Educate customers on ways to get medical assistance such as Medicaid, Medicare etc.
Prevent foreclosure by putting people on repayment plans, submitting requests for modifications, or deed in lieu.

Prepare your debt collector resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your debt collector resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a debt collector resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Debt Collector Resume templates

Build a professional Debt Collector resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Debt Collector resume.

Apply for debt collector jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a debt collector job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do debt collectors rate their job?

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Debt Collector reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2020

Pros

I can exploit my potential and the skills of my experience as a debt collector.

Cons

Failure to achieve my targets

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019